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hi everyone Smile

))

Im taking first year intro to philosophy and its pretty interesting and sometimes hard. The prof is nice and helpful, but it is still baffling in places. So im here ready to pose questions and receive helpful tips! :DDDD

@LauraThePhilGirl,

Hello LtPG

What is your main area of interest?

@validity,

Hi validity

I don't know really; i'm all new to it. I think the what constitutes right and wrong ethics is the most important to everyday life, but the what is beauty (esthetc?)questions seem interesting.
For this class I'm reading republic by plato right now and I'll have to read meditations of first philosophy by rene descartes soon and either-or by soren kierkegaard last. Republic is neat, but I think just sad; who thinks family should be determined by class status than by familal relaitons

@LauraThePhilGirl,

Reading philosophers and thinking about philosophical questions is sometimes very hard, but it is always rewarding.Plato, Descartes, and Kierkegaard are three extremely important and interesting philosophers, each of which demands careful and thoughtful reading.
All three are discussed, from various viewpoints and perspectives, here on the forums, and you may benefit from them and perhaps participate in discussing them.
Welcome to Philforums!
Cheers,
John

@jgweed,

@LauraThePhilGirl,

LauraThePhilGirl wrote:

Hi validity

I don't know really; i'm all new to it. I think the what constitutes right and wrong ethics is the most important to everyday life, but the what is beauty (esthetc?)questions seem interesting.
For this class I'm reading republic by plato right now and I'll have to read meditations of first philosophy by rene descartes soon and either-or by soren kierkegaard last. Republic is neat, but I think just sad; who thinks family should be determined by class status than by familal relaitons

You have misread (or at least have been lead to) the Republic as have countless people before. When they first began looking into the analogy between the soul and the state, someone (I forget who) asks Socrates a question about luxuries. Socrates then says something along the lines of his fellow men wanting to look into what brings injustice into a society. For the next few books, the group digresses into a diversion from the main investigation holding up this idea of the Guardian state asking what is wrong with this picture. Only good readers are able to pick out this fact.

Anyway, welcome to the forums!

@Theaetetus,

Theaetetus wrote:

You have misread (or at least have been lead to) the Republic as have countless people before. When they first began looking into the analogy between the soul and the state, someone (I forget who) asks Socrates a question about luxuries. Socrates then says something along the lines of his fellow men wanting to look into what brings injustice into a society. For the next few books, the group digresses into a diversion from the main investigation holding up this idea of the Guardian state asking what is wrong with this picture. Only good readers are able to pick out this fact.

Anyway, welcome to the forums!

Hi thank you; I wasn't paying attention as usual; but thanks for the tip; I'll reread it again.

Not from phillly, and I don't know about majoring, I just needed an elective or two. Philosophy's cool though might take another.

@LauraThePhilGirl,

Warm welcome to you Laura! You cannot go wrong with Philosophy because it applies to all areas of life. Glad your here please make yourself at home. There are a lot of good minds here on the forum that can give you insight and discussion on many different subjects. None-the-less, we hope to see you get involved and look forward to future discussions in philosophy.

Thank You for introducing yourself!

@Justin,

Welcome!

Yea, like Justin said: you can't go wrong here.

Much love for the Socratic method... and thanks for the reminder, it's about time I read The Republic again ('twas one of my first philosophical inspirations)

@Khethil,

Hi Laura! When you get to the Kierkegaard reading, feel free to give me a PM about ol' SK and Either/Or!

Welcome to the forums, btw!

@LauraThePhilGirl,

LauraThePhilGirl wrote:

I wasn't paying attention as usual; but thanks for the tip; I'll reread it again.

I originally went into the Republic with some of the worst criticism about the book fresh in my mind, and got little to nothing out of it. Then I had a professor pointed out that almost everyone misreads Plato due to missing the critical observation that half of the book is a diversion from the main argument. As the professor said, too many philosophers have too short of an attention span to notice.

After rereading (a good translation helps--I love the Tom Griffith translation because it takes the liberty to make the Republic sound conversational--the method of the book is far more important than the content anyway) and having been enlightened made reading the Republic a far more enjoyable and rewarding experience.

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